Weekly Finds: 7/21/13

Breakfast:

Quinoa Egg Scramble

This is a cool way to pump up your morning eggs - cooked quinoa and spinach add protein and vitamins to get you off to a good start.

Dinner:

Brown Butter Garden Vegetable Pasta Skillet

Deliciously fresh summer veggies (zucchini, tomatoes, onion and corn) are cooked, tossed with whole wheat pasta, and then smothered in browned butter and two kinds of cheese!

One-Pan Farro with Tomatoes

Another incredible Smitten Kitchen recipe! This looks incredible. I've never cooked with farro, but I'm feeling the urge to immediately go out and buy some just to make this recipe. Maybe I should wait until it's no longer 100 degrees outside...

Whole Grain Pizza Crust

We make homemade pizza a lot (although not recently), and typically use Alton Brown's recipe, or just pick up some pizza dough at Trader Joe's. We haven't made whole grain pizza dough yet, and this sounds like a great place to start.

Sides:

Peach Caprese Salad

I need this salad! It is seriously the epitome of summertime - fresh peaches, tomatoes, basil, with some delicious fresh mozzarella. I think the addition of peach to the traditional caprese salad is genius.

Baked Eggplant Sticks

I love faux fried food! I never would have thought of using eggplant, but it sounds delicious.

Bread:

Asiago and Black Pepper Rolls

These rolls are beautiful. And filled with cheese. I love how they pop up in the middle!

Snacks:

Spicy Spinach Dip with Pine Nuts

This is a healthy take on the typical spinach dip, made spicy with the addition of coriander, cumin, chili powder and cayenne, with some pine nuts to give a crunch.

Homemade Cheez-Its

It's DANGEROUS that these are described as being insanely easy to make, and better than the store-bought version. I love that they're made with whole wheat flour. 

Desserts:

Peach and Pecan Oat Crumble Bars

A cookie base is topped with peach filling, pecan oat topping, and finally, a lemon glaze. This seems like the perfect way to use last of my peaches!

Moscato Sabayon (and Berries)

Last summer, a friend made a blueberry and cherry pie, and served it with sabayon. I had never even heard of sabayon, and was intrigued by this creamy sauce that didn't have any milk or cream in it. Then I saw this recipe for sabayon that's made with moscato, my boyfriend's favorite wine. Next time we open a bottle, I'm going to beg him to let me save some to make this delicious sauce.

Blueberry-Lime Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I've gone on about my obsession with the combination of blueberries, lime and cream cheese before, but here it is again!

Homemade Almond Paste

I see recipes all the time that call for almond paste, but it's usually pretty expensive at the store. This is a much cheaper, and an easy way to make your own.

Perfect Blueberry Lattice Pie

The problem with most fruit pies is that they get really soupy. I hate making a pie, having it look beautiful, then cutting it open and just seeing a puddle of juices. This pie uses tapioca as well as grated apple to help thicken the filling, without making it like jelly.

Peanut Butter, Banana and Honey Upside-Down Cake

An incredibly dense pound cake, made with peanut butter, and topped with caramelized honey bananas. This sounds incredible.

Drinks:

Chai Iced Tea Cubes

I LOVE chai tea. I used to have problems drinking coffee (my stomach couldn't handle it) so I would drink chai tea instead whenever I went to a coffee shop. I still prefer getting chai over coffee whenever I go to Dunkin Donuts, but that's probably because they over sugar and cream their coffees. This recipe make a concentrated chai tea syrup, which I've seen before, but then freezes it as ice cubes to make iced chai! You pour your milk over the cubes, and as they melt, your chai tea just gets better and better.

Fitness:

Block Pulse Crunches

Use a yoga block to get more out of your crunches

Blast Calories and Build Muscle in 30 Minutes

A two-in-one workout plan that combines cardio with strength training to get double the results. A lot of these are exercises I already do, like Split Jumps, Squat Presses, Squat Jumps, and Biceps Curls.

300 Calorie Elliptical/Treadmill Workout Switching up machines can make your workout a lot more interesting

Running:

The Blerch 

A hilarious comic about "hitting the wall" while running a marathon

Playlists for running:
5k - 8 minute mile
5k - 9 minute mile
Pop-filled 5k Playlist - 9 minute mile
5k - 10 minute mile
Pump-Up Playlist: Run 5 miles in 50 minutes
Pump-Up Playlist: Run 3 miles in 30 minutes
Half-marathon Playlist: 10-minute mile
20-Minute Beginner-Friendly Playlist
40-Minute Upbeat Interval Playlist
All of these playlists can be found on Spotify when you search for FitSugar. I used one the other day!

Run a Faster 5k in 4 weeks A good training plan if you've already done a few 5k's, but want to beat your last time.

8-Week Beginner 10k Running Schedule If you've already done a few 5k's, but would rather increase your distance than your speed, this is a great running plan.

45-minute Treadmill Workout

Another interval treadmill workout, but stretched out over 45 minutes.

500 Calorie Treadmill Workout

The calories are based on a 130lb woman, and claim that you will burn 500 calories (511 to be exact) by following the speed intervals. I'd be interested to give it a try and see how it compares to the calorie readout on the treadmill, as well as the one on a heart-rate monitor.

45-Minute Treadmill Workout

Okay and here's another 45 minute treadmill workout. Slightly different from the one above. Claims to get rid of belly fat. Also claims to burn 421 calories. I'd guess that it burns even more than that.

300 calorie workout Okay, I obviously went a little crazy on the FitSugar site to find some new treadmill workouts. Anyway, this is a 45 minute interval workout that claims to burn 303 calories. Give it a try :)

Hill/Speed Interval Treadmill Workout Burn 432 calories in this treadmill workout that varies not only the speed, but also the incline.

Cooking Tips:

A Guide for Choosing Healthier Grains This really helpful infographic breaks down the nutritional stats of all of the healthiest grains out there, and gives some cooking tips. The picture is way too big to include here!

How to Keep Pesto Bright Green

Although it sounds counter-intuitive, apparently if you blanch the basil first, you'll retain that beautiful bright green color when you make pesto!

Interesting Tidbits:

A list of a lot of brands that are natural or organic, that are actually owned by large companies that you don't think of as being either natural or organic.